From the Caregiver's HAErt — Danita LaShelle Jones

“Norm!” the bar occupants yell in unison. The long-running sitcom “Cheers” centered around a quaint bar in Boston and the regular patrons who frequented it. One of its tropes was the gleeful recognition of Norm, a regular, when he entered the bar. At first, audiences looked forward to the throwaway…

Of all the ways to wake up, my aching face in a pool of water ranked pretty low. Unfortunately, that wasn’t something I knew until it happened. After very extensive surgery to remove four wisdom teeth, I was sent home with my parents, an appropriate and necessary amount of pain…

The panic in my production headset had reached a frenzy. Seconds before my boss was to walk on stage in front of thousands of people, the mechanism that was supposed to display his slides and videos, both to the audience and to online viewers, failed. Although countless troubleshooting efforts were…

At the sound of her name, the entire auditorium erupted. Seconds later, everyone, even the losers, were on their feet, with some crying tears of joy. The standing ovation lingered for almost two minutes, and even Oprah Winfrey walked onto the stage shouting congratulations. Susan Lucci had finally…

Despite a doctor suggesting the possibility, caregiver Danita LaShelle Jones wasn't ready for her daughter's hereditary angioedema diagnosis. It took time, but eventually she was able to accept their new reality.

“I’m a winner, and I’m special, and Jones don’t take no stuff. No stuff!” “Say it again!” I yelled rhythmically to our 5-year-old as I drove him to school. “I’m a winner,” he repeated, “I’m special, and Jones don’t take no stuff. No stuff!” After discovering that our oldest son,…

With 20 minutes until the appointment and an 18-minute drive, I’d run out of any wiggle room for anything that might delay me in getting the twins to the pediatrician on time. Although I had attempted to leave quickly, I answered honestly when my then 4-year-olds asked if they would…

If this wasn’t a Thanksgiving emergency, I didn’t know what was. After an ambitious shopping trip in 2008, I was face-to-face with a rather large raw turkey just out of the package. As a fresh victim of “it seemed like a good idea at the time” and with less than…

The ending of John Krasinski’s film “A Quiet Place” offers an incredible moment in suspense as the Abbott family find themselves staring death in the face. After Evelyn’s (played by Emily Blunt) shotgun blast fatally immobilizes a vicious alien that had them cornered in the basement, audiences sigh…

“You smell that?” my husband, Paul, asked me. We had just arrived home and found it odd that the house wasn’t busy, especially with all the kids being there. Paul and I have two recurring jokes: He can sense when something is amiss using his smell and hearing, and something…

I yanked my glasses off dramatically and rubbed my eyes. Even though I couldn’t tell if I was frustrated or mentally exhausted, I realized I had an odd problem that needed addressing. After spending the better part of my evening reading through emails from students, I was shocked that several…

“Dr. Huxtable? My name’s not Bud, it’s Kenny.” That hilarious line was brilliantly delivered by an 8-year-old Deon Richmond in a 1984 episode of “The Cosby Show.” When Rudy Huxtable brings home a new friend, she introduces the young man as “Bud.” She bosses him around, answers for him, and…